Automatic dump-vehicle.



L. A. WELSCH.

AUTOMATIC DUMP VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED mm, 1915.

Patent-ed bec.14,191s

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L. A. WELSCH. I Mnomnc DUMP VEHICLE. APPLICATION men JAN-1.1915. v I 1,164,604; lateuted Dec. H, 1915 3 SHEETS-SHEET 7 I .Z cuu6 PVeAsc/Z.

L A WELSCH.

AUTOMATIC DUMP VEHICLE. APPLICATION FILED JAN.4.1915. 1,14,6Q L Y Patented Dec. 14, 1915.

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MZ'hesSes: jnl/eniarf run STATES Parana one,

AUTOMATIC DUMP-VEHICLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 14 EH15.

Application filed January 41915. Serial No. 390.

To all whom it may concern:

lie it known that I.,';Lorrs A. lVnLsoii, a

citizen of the United States. residing at St.

Paul. in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful improvement in Automatic DumpVehicles, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is the production of a simple, efiicient and inexpensive dump vehicle. which will easily and quickly dump the contents thereof cleanly. and automatically close again after the dumping operation.

More particularly the invention is applicable to railway cars, although the principles and construction employed may be applied to motor vehicles and other classes I of conveyers.'

A further object is the production of means, whereby a series of vehicles employing my invention can be coupled and operated simultaneously to dump the contents of all-and lock the device's after they have closed automatically, so that they cannot be again opened unintentionally.

The invention also provides a simple and strong construction, which is not liable to get out of order, or become inoperative during the use of the invention.

To these ends my invention comprises the features of construction and combination of parts her inaft'er more particularly described and set forth in the claims.

Infthe drawings, Figure 1 is a side eletation: Fig. 2 is a plan; Fig. 3 is' an end view; Figs. 4 and 5 are plans of the coupling. which is employed for coupling the operating mechanism of adjacent vehicles; Fig. (i is a section on the line XX, Fig. 2; Fig. is a partial section of a detail on' the line Y-Y, Fig. 6, looking in the direction of the arrow, and Fig. 8 is another partial section on the line Z Z, Fig. 6 looking in the direction ofthe arrow.

In the drawings, A indicates the running gear of a car. such as is employed on railroads for holding gravel, earth or any other material. The running gear disclosed is in the form of a truck, having theusual frame work 2, couplings 3, truck wheels 4, and journals 5, said frame being of rectangular shape, having the usual side pieces 6 and 7, and cross pieces 8 and 9. The side pieces 6 and 7 of said frame are made of angle beams bolted or otherwise secured to the cross pieces 8 and 9, said frame beingsuitablyreinforced to assist in forming a strong and rigid structure, to which the side braces 10 and longitudinal truss rods 11 are secured. Fastened near the longitudinal center line of said-frame are two channel beams 12 and 13, which are spaced evenly apart and secured upon the cross piecesS and 9. These longitudinal channel beams carry near and between their ends upwardly projecting supports 14, each of which is in the form of a flat bar having its end portions bent together and spread to form flanges 15, which. are secured to'the channel beams 12 and 13. In these supports 14 a shaft 16 is held, which traverses the structure longitudinally and horizontally in a central vertical plane passing through the vehicle. This shaft carries a portion of the load of the body B, said body being composed of rigid ends C, upwardly movable sides D and downwardly swinging bottom or floor sections E arid F. v

The ends C are similar in construction, each consisting of a plate supported by downwardly and inwardly slanting arms 20 secured to said ends and to the angle side pieces 6 and 7 ,isaid plate having upwardly and inwardly slanting' g'ends 21, over which the sides D close in "slanting position. The median portion of the ends-,C-are secured by flanged members 2 to an inverted angle bar 23, which parts serveto'reinforce the strength of the structure, thus formed, and tie the ends together into a rigid'unit. The bar 23 is disposed longitudinally and hori- Zontally midway between the sides of the body and in addition to reinforcing the f sections E and F of the body, each of which is mounted to swing downwardly and in wardly from the shaft by hinge members 25. The inner edges 26 (see Fig. 6) of the floor sections project inwardly below the downwardly extending sides of the angle bar 23, so that there is no chance for the con-. tents catching and jamming between the parts when the sections are swung down. The remaining edges of the bottom sections oigerlap the lower edges of the ends and si es.

The sides D of the body are in the form of plain sheets of material, reinforo'edjby brac ing and cross'bracin and hinged from the Yshaft'16 by hinge e ements 30,, there bein ends and said single arm extending down and pivotally fastened to a bracket 38 on the a pair for each sidewall of the body secu outside of the body to its posite ends on one side of the shaft.- Eac of said hinge elements has. a pair of arms. 31 extending outwardly 'on one side of the vshaft and a single arm '32 extendin outwardly from the other side of said s aft, said pair of arms being secured to the side wall by their under side of the adjacent floor section, so that as a'side wall on one side of the shaft is raised, the floor section on the opposite side of said shaft is lowered simultaneously.

-The side and floor of each set mounted upon and when the floor sections E and sides D are in closed position, the arms' 35. are locked by lock devices 40, and held'so' a pair of binge elements actin by gravity together, ca'usethe contents 0 the body to deposit downwardly when the body is emptied the sides D being supported in upwardly and inwardly slanting position when closed over the body. The outer ends of the floor sections are supported by lock arms 35, there being four shown. two disposed below each floor section. portion of each lock member 35 is formed with three arms 36, to braceand support the lock member longitudinally of the vehicle, the upper end of each arm being hinged bv the hinge elements 37 to the'floor section. The lower end of the lock element is providedwith an anti-friction roller 38, bearing upon an upwardly and inwardly slanting guide 39, which is in the form of a flat bar secured by its ends to one of themain channel bars 12 or ,13, and by its lower end to one of the side bars 6 or 7. As the floor sections swing down and up thelower end of the lock arms 35 travel upon the guides tllilat the body vcannot be opened unintention a y. a l There is a lock-element for' each I k rm, consisting of a block which is secu be-, tween ears 41 formed on the lower surface of the guide 39 by means of a pivot connee tion 42, as shown', the block bein adapttd 1-to ;w ork withirra slot41 provi ed in the guide. The upper surface of the block has.

' a; transverse channelor groove 43, which receives the a-n'tifriction roller 38 and holds it while the lock is inlOcking' position. The

opening 41 is narrower than the width of the face of the roller 38 andthe roller consequently sup orts the load carried by the lock arm on t e guide 39 free of the block. The free end of the block is held in locking position by a cam 4.4 mounted upon oneof .the shafts 45, which is journaled in the angle bars 6 and 7 and channel beams 12 and 13,

there being two shafts upon which all of the- The upper end.

" .cams are mounted. .When the shafts he turned in either direction, the cams release" the locks into unlocking position, permitting the arms 35 to turn up'and the floor sections and sides to open. s

For simultaneously living the lockelements into and outjoflocking position, a

shaft 50 is slidably mounted in the supports 14 and, disposeddongitudinally. This shaft is coupled to a crank arm51 rigidly mounted on each of the shafts 45, by studs 7 ing in grooves 53 in the free bifurcatl! "0 Baid m, whereby longitudinal movement of said shaft in either direction will swin j said arms and the shafts and cams 45 an I 43. When thebody is loaded and the shaft 50 moved into unlocking position as floor sections swing down and t'e sides turn up,

- thus releasing the load and emptyin the body cleanly. Slanting the sides as s can permits this operation to transpire with little resistance. The leverage produced by the arms 31 and the wei ht of the sidesmore than counter-balancest e l'oad'of the companion floor section, thus causing the aide and the floor section which it counteracts to close automatically as as the loadis released. When desired bumpers 55 can-be placed on the angle bars 6 and 7 to absorb the jar of the floor sections when swinging down under load and stoppin suddenly. The shaft 5Q after bein moved into unlocking position in either orward or backward direction is returned into median position to make the lock elements 40 engage and hold the rollers 38, by means of compression springs 56, which press by their ends against the supports 14 and againstwashers or colla'rs 57 fastened to the shaft 50.

The shaft 50 can be operated by attaching alo'comotive or other power to either. J -of its ends, the construction shown beingv alocomotive together and dumping the con- .tents ofall of the ca'rsand relocking them at the same time; For this urpose the ends adapted for-coupling a number of cars and -f of the shaft 50 are provid withautomatic,

couplers58ofnny w'ellgknown form. In Figs. 4 and 5, the ends of adjacent shafts of adjacent cars are shown'coupled together;

In accordance with-the patent statutes,.I

have described the-principles of operation, of my invention, together with the apparathe scope, of the following mod by said truck memos prising-sin combination, atrnck,, a body-- said truck, said-memb'ehbeing connected at one extrem ty to said side and at its other extremity to said :bottnnrto cause simultaneous. movement -.o'i:" said side and bottom,

and. means for lockingsaid side and bottom,

in closed position.- 1 2.1% yehicle of the class set forth, comprising, in-conibination,a truck, a body carhaying a pair of upwardly tiltable sides and downwardly tiltable bottom sections, rigid members pivotally mounted intermediate'their ends upon said truckfeach of said members being connected at one extremity to one of said sides and at its other extremity to one of said bottom sections to cause simultaneous movement of said side and bottom sections in opposite directions, and means for locking said sides and bottom sections in closed position. 25'

3. A vehicle of the classset forth, comprising, in combination, a truck, a body carried by said truck having a pair'of uowardly tiltable side walls a'nd'downwardly tiltable bottom sections, the wall on one side of said body and the bottom section on the opposite side being conneted to move simultaneously and hinged to swing up and down,

said side walls being adapted to swing upwardly while said bottom sections swing downwardly into open position, and means for locking said parts in closed position.

4. A Vehicle -of the class set forth, comprising, in combination, a truck, a body carried by said truck having a pair'of upardly tiltable side walls and downwardlytiltable floor sections, a shaft carried by said truck longitudinally of said vehiole, said side walls and floor "sections being hinged upon said shaft and the wall on one side of the body being operati ely connected to the floor section on the opposite side of the vehicle and the weight of each floor. section being over-balanced by the weight of the side wall carried on the opposite side of the body, whereby the floor sections and side walls tend to swing into closed position automatically, andmeans for looking said side walls and floor sectionsclosed.

5. A vehicle of the class set forth, comprising, in combination, a truck, a body car-. vried by said truck having a pair of upwardly tiltable side walls and a pair of downwardly tiltable floor sections said side walls and floor sections beinghingedly supported upon said truck and the Wall on one side of the body being opcrativcly connected to the floor section on the opposite side of the body and the weight of each floor section being over-balanced by the weight of the side wall carried on the opposite side of downwardly tiltable floor sections,

the body, whereby the floor sections and side walls tend to swing into closed position I automatically, and means for locking said side walls and floor sections closed.

6, A. vehicle of the class set forth, comprising, in combination, a truck, a body carried by said tmick having a pair of upwardly tiltable side walls and a pair of said side walls and floor sections being hinged upon said truck, the wall on one side of the body being operati-vely connected to the door section on the oppositeside oi the body, the weight oi. each floor section being oven-balanced by theweight of the side wall carried on the opposite sideof the body, and said side walls being inclined upwardly and inwardly when in closed position to. assist in forming a body receptacle, whereby the floor sections and side walls tend to swing into closed position automatically 'and'said side hinged upon said truck and the weight of i the floor section being over-balanced by the weight-of the companion side wall carried on the opposite side of the body, whereby the floor sections and side walls tend to swing into closed position automatically, lock arms hinged below said floor sections, means for guiding the lower ends of said arms to permit free movement of said conected side wall and floor section, lock elements adapted to engage the lower ends of said lock arms to hold said side walls and floor sections in closed position, and means for moving said lock elements into locking position.

8. A-vehicle of the class set forth, comprising, in combination, a truck, a body carried by said truck having a pair of upwardly tiltable side walls and a pairoi downwardly tiltabl'e floor sections, a wall on each side of the body being operatively connected with the floor section on the opposite side of the body, the connecting means between said side walls and floor sections being hinged upon said truck and the weight of the floor section being over-balanced by the companion side wall carried on the opposite side oi the body, whereby the floor sections and side walls tend to swing into closed position automatically. a shaft below said body movable longitudinally and means connected with said shaft for locking' and unlocking by its movement the floor sections and'sides when the latter are in closed position. I 9. A vehicle of--the class set forth, comprising, incombination, a truck, a body'carried by said truck'having a pair of upwardly tiltable side walls and a pair of downwardly tiltable floor sections, a wall on each side of the body being operatively connected with 1 the floor section on the opposite side of the bod the connecting means between said connected side walls and floor sections being hinged upon said truck and the Weight of the floor section being over-balanced by the weight of the companion side wall carried on the opposite sideof the body, whereby the floor sections and side walls tend to ,swing into closed position automatically, a shaft mountedibelow said-body and movable longitudinally, lock arms hinged below said floor sections and locking means between said shaft and lock arms for engaging and disengaging said arms to respectively lock and unlock said floor sections and side walls in closed or open osition.

10. A vehicle-o the class set forth, comfprising, in,combination, a truck, a body carried by said truck .having a pair ofnpwardly tiltable side walls and a pair of downwardly 'tiltable floor sections, a wall on each side of the body being operatively connected with the floor section on the opposite side of the body, the connecting means between said side walls and floor sections being hinged above said truck and the Weight of the floor .sectionof each couple being over-balanced by the weight of the companion side wall carried on. the opposite side of the body, whereby the floor sections and side walls tend to swing into closed position automatically, a shaft below said body movable lon- LOUIS a WELSCH.

-' Witnesses: I

STELLA L. WASCHENBERGER,

I. S. BRADBURY. 

